Bosnia’s authorities are more engaged in tackling the migrant situation in the country than before, EU Delegation Head Johann Sattler said on Friday after he visited the newly opened migrant reception centre in Blazuj, near Sarajevo, adding that he is satisfied with what he saw.
The new migrant centre was opened to accommodate a large number of migrants who were staying at another centre in the northwestern part of the country, Vucjak, which was strongly criticised because conditions there were not fit for humans.
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Sattler said that he is satisfied, as the situation is much better than before because the Government got more engaged, but also that there is still work to do regarding the capacities for accommodating the migrants. Bosnia must use up all of its capacities and work on securing more, he said.
“The European Union stands with you, prepared to help. Until now we have secured 35 million Euros for solving the migrant issue,” he said.
According to the EU representative, Bosnia can now meet the needs to accommodate six thousand people and the country should work on securing accommodation for another two thousand who are currently staying outside of migrant reception centres.
He said it was important for him to visit the Blazuj facility five weeks after it was made operational, adding that “various organisations and institutions had a total of 24 hours to prepare for the migrants which came from Vucjak.”
“I think this is a good example of how to respond to the problem of migrations very swiftly and without any hysteria. Another positive effect of it is that some 20 people from the local community are now employed,” he said.
Project Coordinator for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Bosnia, Drazen Rozic, expects that the Blazuj centre will reach its planned accommodation capacity of 1,300 next week.
Between 600 and 750 migrants are currently accommodated in containers while the rest are staying in the renovated buildings of the centre, he explained.
